


All The Same

by auwana, jaguarspot, Jesi_Ki_Kage



Category: Power Rangers, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers '12 has happened but nothing else is relevent, F/F, First words spoken by your soulmate are on your skin, Natasha & Tony brotp, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, clint coulson and fury are in here just not with big roles, so's taylor from wild force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:16:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22176163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auwana/pseuds/auwana, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaguarspot/pseuds/jaguarspot, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jesi_Ki_Kage/pseuds/Jesi_Ki_Kage
Summary: Maria and Natasha were always worried about how they would protect another soulmate if the person wasn't a Shield agent. When they meet someone in a Power Ranger protected city, things do and don't go the way they thought they would.Ariel, meanwhile, is wondering how the hell she's going to keep her shiny new soulmates from being used by the Warstar Empire.
Relationships: Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov, Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 98





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ariel's taking Tommy's role in canon, just so I don't have to go into her usual background of evil purple ranger. Tommy's great and all, but y'all are here for soulmate goodness and not tragic life story.
> 
> Title and lyrics within from All The Same by Sick Puppies.

_I don't mind where you come from_   
_As long as you come to me_   
_I don't like illusions_   
_I can't see them clearly_

* * *

Natalia Romanova did not get annoyed. 

Natasha Romanoff, on the other hand, was full of emotions even if she didn’t always express them in distinct ways. Maria, being a most excellent soulmate, knew how to read her 90% of the time. Clint, having the semblance of a survival instinct, usually picked up on the more essential emotions. Coulson...well, some days they were on the same wavelength to the point of Clint threatening to squirt them with the Holy Water Super Soaker he kept in case of vampires.

Right now, at this very moment, Natasha wanted to Hulk smash someone’s face into a wall. Preferably an impenetrable one. This was the first day of her vacation in a year and a half. She somehow found herself in a fight with monsters from space. Because of course, Maria couldn’t take a vacation at the same time. (Okay, Maria’s would start halfway through Natasha’s, but still.) So Natasha had come to Harwood to laze about the apartment Maria was using while the Assistant Director checked in on the Power Ranger observation team.

Shield had learned long ago, in Angel Grove, to leave the Power Rangers to handle their shit. It had not gone over well when Shield tried to intervene. So now agents were to observe, record, but never interfere. 

And maybe pick up what bits and pieces were strewn about in the aftermath of battles.

Shield was opportunistic.

Natasha twisted the arm of the bright green minion until she heard it pop. She flipped him over her shoulder and into his buddies before taking cover as the Black Ranger arrived.

“Holy fuck, can you teach me how to do that if I, like, repay you in food and/or sexual favors?”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at the young woman watching the battle from behind a sidewalk planter. She had a bike lock chain dangling from her hands, the lock covered in minion goo. Behind her, cowering in a recessed doorway, were a handful of civilians. “You’re under the mistaken impression I’d be interested in either of those options as repayment.”

Brown eyes went wide as she paled. “Of course, this is happening during a fight. Why wouldn’t it happen during a fight? I can’t have anything boring in my life, it’s always gotta be exciting bullshit.”

The truck Natasha was kneeling behind rocked violently as a body was tossed onto the roof. The dazed minion hit the sidewalk between Natasha and her soulmate. Before Natasha could move in to break its neck, the bike lock came down hard and fast.

The sound of a face being caved in was covered by an explosion up the street.

The minion stopped moving.

Natasha’s new soulmate didn’t look the least bit fazed. 

Well. Okay, then.

  
~

Ariel didn’t run away from problems. In fact, she made a career of running towards them. Complications? Those she liked to avoid at all costs. Finding her soulmate was a complication. Finding her soulmate fighting Loogies with frightening competency while Ariel was also being a minor badass complicated her life even more. 

Soulmates became targets. Ariel could not have her soulmate become a target.

But here she was, sitting in a cafe a mile from the battle, refueling with her soulmate. Who was gorgeous on top of being excellent in a fight. Natasha had an air around her that reminded Ariel of Karone, with a look in her eyes that made Nadira look tame. A dangerous soulmate. It made sense, given Ariel’s, ah, colored past.

“Has anyone ever taken you up on the food or sexual favors?” Natasha asked between bites of chicken.

Ariel grinned. “My girlfriend in high school figured I’d only get better with practice, so I learned a LOT of gymnastics back then. Most people accept food, and I’ve only regretted the sex once.”

“That bad?”

“That good, but he had a flight out of the country, so.” She sighed heavily, making her soulmate roll her eyes in amusement. “Anyway. Soulmate. Wanna give it a shot, or are you against predetermined life mates?”

“If you had asked me a few years ago, I would’ve told you to fuck off. If you were lucky enough for me to use my words. Today…” She shrugged. “So far, I’m not against it.”

Ariel nodded. “I’m willing to try. Work shuffles me around every two or three years. I help people deal with living in active Power Ranger cities.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “So you go looking for trouble? Then maybe we’ll get along.” She considered Ariel for a moment. “I work for the government.”

“In the ‘don’t ask questions cause I’ll have to kill you’ way? Or the ‘I skydive for fun because work is mind-numbing’ way?”

“Those are very specific. The first way.”

“I have friends. The ‘I kill you’ friends think the skydiving friends are crazy.”

“They are.”

“They’re bored forty hours out of the week.”

They finished their food, and Ariel figured she could configure a simple friendship with Natasha. Most Power Rangers settled with being unable to have deep connections with non-Ranger soulmates. There was a far too important part of Ariel’s life she could never tell Natasha about, and it would forever color the way Ariel lived life. It was kinder to them both if Ariel didn’t aim for much of anything.

“So,” Natasha said as they stepped outside. “I have another soulmate. She also works for the government.”

Ariel nodded. “Sweet. Just, like, FYI, I’m not looking for anything...more than friendship at the moment. I don’t dive into things head first anymore.” 

Something about Natasha relaxed. “Okay. Good to know. Up for meeting her tonight?”

“Yeah, I can do that. You two beer and pizza people? Cause if you’re not, we might just have to call it quits right now.”

Natasha smiled a little. “Yes, we’re beer and pizza people.”

They traded phone numbers, and Ariel gave Natasha the name of the decent pizza place she had found on the recommendation of the Mega Force team. They went their separate ways. Ariel immediately headed for the local office, tapping furiously at her phone. 

[Kim. Kim Kim Kim Kim.]

[Been a while since I’ve gotten that response out of you ;)]

[Soulmate, Kim. Soulmate.]

[Well shit]

~

The pro of being the second in command of a multinational black ops agency was there being so few people who could question what Maria did at any given time. The con was when those people did question her, it was for good reason. Natasha didn’t qualify as someone with authority to question Maria, but Natasha was an entity unto herself.

“Is that a high school newspaper?” Natasha asked as she perched on the arm of Maria’s desk chair.

“How do you even know what those look like? You were never in high school.”

“Lucky me, if the stories I hear are anything to go by.” She leaned forward and stared at the screen. “She isn’t much taller than that, honestly.”

Maria inched her hand under Natasha’s jacket to rest her palm on the small of her back. “Must make you happy.” 

“It does. This is more thorough than most backgrounds.”

Maria shrugged. “I’m paranoid. They are out to get us, you know.”

“Some of us more than others. She seems okay. Admitted to being bisexual, works primarily in Power Ranger cities, eats like someone who doesn’t taste food so much as inhales it, and isn’t aiming for anything more than platonic at the moment.”

“So, a constantly on the move storm chaser. Which...isn’t wrong when it comes to you.” Maria grinned when Natasha glared at her. “I’m not going to use this information in conversation, you know that. I just like my intel. Don’t act like you haven’t asked Stark to snoop.”

Natasha rolled her eyes and stood. “I haven’t, yet, because the last thing I need is Tony thinking I’ll take his intel over Shield’s.”

Maria started to close out the search. “Background came back clean enough. Handful of speeding tickets, a couple of bar fights when she was younger-”

“Did she win?”

“From the looks of it.” Maria set her automated reply incase someone was stupid enough to bother her when the world wasn’t ended. (If the world was ending, she’d already know about it, thanks.) “But nothing that would stop her from being employed by Shield.” Which was a strange but reliable metric.

“So only one of your soulmates is a former Cold War spy?”

“Fortunately for my sanity, yes.”

After hitting the apartment for a change of clothes and an hour of doing absolutely nothing, they headed for the pizzeria. It was in a good part of town, so the Shield car didn’t look out of place at all. They found Ariel leaning against the wall of the building, talking on her phone. She was quick to hang up and smiled at Natasha.

But she narrowed her eyes at Maria. “You’re too tall. Can’t trust a tall person. The air’s too thin up there.”

Maria snorted. “I guess that’s better than some greetings I’ve gotten.”

And, honestly, it was weird how it tended to take people a second to realize their soulmark had been spoken. Maria liked to think she had an excuse in Natasha trying to kill her at the time. But she had seen it happen since. 

Ariel frowned. “Does this complicate or uncomplicate things?”

Maria shrugged. “At the moment, it doesn’t complicate anything. Beyond the usual.”

Ariel nodded, and they headed inside. Maria had suspected Natasha’s new soulmate would be hers as well. People usually shared soulmates. What this meant in the long run, though, Maria could only guess at.


	2. Chapter 2

_I don't care; no, I wouldn't dare  
_ _To fix the twist in you  
_ _You've shown me eventually  
_ _What you'll do_

* * *

Ariel hated to admit that she liked Maria and Natasha. The universe didn’t get it wrong in matching them all up. Which would be great if it wasn’t such a problem. Ariel wanted to get to know her soulmates. From their behavior, they wouldn’t mind a deeper friendship, either.

Their work held them back on all sides. Ariel’s more than theirs, it seemed, but Ariel also had more secrets. And it was only a matter of time before she was in some new city. Maria and Natasha, at least, were usually based out of NYC.

So why the hell was Ariel spending the third night in a row hanging out with her soulmates? 

“Stop doing that!”

“Stop dropping your elbow!”

Ariel rolled up to her feet and grinned as she faced Natasha. Turns out soulmates could teach each other killer martial art moves for free. And Ariel needed all the skills she could get. Really, spending all this time with her soulmates was going to help against the forces for evil.

Really. It was.

Natasha waved at her. “Again. Keep your fucking elbow up.”

Ariel attacked. This time, she managed to complete the motion without getting tossed to the mats.

“Finally,” Maria called from the sidelines. She smiled to let Ariel know she was teasing. “That only took you a whole hour.”

Ariel’s phone beeped, and she scurried away from Natasha's attack to look at it. “Food’s on its way.”

“I suppose that’s a good enough excuse to let you walk away,” Natasha said. “We’ll meet you at your place.”

Ariel nodded and snagged her stuff before jogging out. Learning new skills, food, and soulmates who would’ve been amazing under any other circumstance. She knew she didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy it. So she would take what she could get while it lasted.

* * *

_I don't mind_   
_I don't care_   
_As long as you're here_

* * *

Maria checked her phone on instinct alone as she entered the tiny apartment her new soulmate called home. There were no messages, which was expected. Agents had learned the hard way to leave her alone.

Maria dropped a kiss on Natasha’s head, then raised an eyebrow at Natasha’s face. “What’s with you?”

Natasha motioned to where Ariel was passed out on the couch, head on a pillow next to Natasha. 

“Didn’t you two spend three hours on the mats?”

“Yeah,” Natasha said, “but we’ve known each other for four days.”

“It’s called trust.” Maria shrugged and put the food on the coffee table. “Some people find it easier to give than the rest of us.”

Maria took Natasha’s glass to the kitchen and refilled it, grabbing three beers from the fridge as well. She pressed the bottles against the back of Ariel’s neck. “Vacation time. Wake up.”

“Why the fuck do you want to be awake during vacation?” Ariel demanded as she curled away from the chill. “Also, there are far more interesting ways to wake a woman.”

“I brought food.”

“You are forgiven.”

Maria shook her head but smiled. Ariel was turning out to be a somewhat decent match for them. She was kind of surprised things were going so well; given the nature of her and Natasha’s work, she was expecting more hesitation than enthusiasm.

Maria did wonder, however, what caused the distant look in Ariel’s eyes. It was like she was missing someone or something. She wondered if they would ever find out.

* * *

_Go ahead, tell me you'll leave again_   
_You'll just come back running_   
_Holding your scarred heart in hand_   
_It's all the same_

* * *

“I know we planned on going back to New York before the end of our vacations,” Natasha said.

“But that was before we met our other soulmate.” Maria nodded. “I don’t mind staying here the whole time.”

“There’s a part of me that wants to distrust her. I don’t like how easy this is.”

“Given how we made it so hard on ourselves, I’m not surprised.” Maria shrugged, holding the door open for Natasha as they left the apartment building. “We’ll be able to reevaluate when we’ve got some time and distance.”

Natasha had barely spotted the red bead of light on Maria’s face before she was yanking Maria down behind a car. One bullet dug itself into the concrete on the building. Then a hail of bullets rained down from multiple sources.

Fortunately, the apartment building was owned by Shield and, therefore, full of Shield agents. Those Shield agents knew their deputy director was rooming with them. And while they may not see the target being shot at, they reacted accordingly.

Natasha could hear the change in gunshots. It wasn’t a lot of cover fire, but it would have to do. She chanced a glance through the broken windows of the truck. 

Her blood ran cold at the sight of the sniper aiming a rifle right at her.

She ducked under the truck and cut the brake lines. Due to the even surface, the vehicle didn’t move. Once she was upright, she pointed to the dumpster in front of the next building. Maria nodded and got ready to run. From the small bag over her shoulder, Natasha pulled a tiny bottle of vodka, a tissue, and her lighter.

“Why do you have mini alcohols in your bag?!”

“Maria, my soulmate, my stars, the light of my life.” Natasha shoved the tissue into the tiny bottle. “I’m Russian.”

“You were! Past tense!”

“Fine! I’m a trained Russian child assassin! We’re always prepared to destroy things!” She lit the tissue and rolled it under the truck.

Maria kept low as she took off for the dumpster. Natasha was a moment behind her as the brake fluid caught fire. Gunshots followed them for two seconds before the flames traveled up the brake lines and into the truck.

The explosion sent a concussive force through her.

“That’s never fun,” Maria muttered as she took a breath.

They grabbed the dumpster and moved it back towards the apartment building. It was full, it stank to high hell, but it took bullets like a champ. An agent was waiting to let them into the building the moment they were in front of the door. 

Natasha slumped against the wall as the sound of helicopters swooped in. Looking at Maria, she knew their vacations were over.

~

  
Ariel weaved in and out of traffic as she headed for the city limits. After the office had been attacked, she had made sure her handful of employees were safe before making a break for it. Last she checked, the new kids were safe due to the Power flaring up to protect them. Whoever was attacking, it wasn’t the Warstar empire.

She was being chased, but she had been riding motorcycles in and out of danger since she was fifteen. A decade and a half of experience was nothing to laugh at.

Ariel was now in trouble. Ariel didn’t run from trouble. She wasn’t running from trouble. She was leading it away from the not so bulletproof civilians. Getting shot at was nothing new. This was the first time in a long time that she was the specific target. Usually, it was just due to being in the general vicinity of a Ranger battle.

Her phone rang. “Answer.” Her helmet clicked. “Little busy right now.”

“ _Are you somewhere safe?_ ” Maria demanded.

“Yes?” Ariel lied. “What’s up?”

“ _There’s been an attack. We were the targets. Someone is on their way to you_.”

Ariel had a sinking feeling that maybe, just maybe, meeting her soulmates was going to end worse than she thought. “Roger that. Gotta go. Stay safe.” She tapped the disconnect button. “Phone off. Alpha.” 

“ _I’m here, Ariel. What’s going on? You sound stressed_.”

“You know me far too well if one word does it. I need to ghost. Make sure no one can track me.”

“ _Are you sure?_ ”

“Yes. Anyone my soulmates send after me will only get hurt. Send a note to Taylor and Eric. I might need a cover story.”

“ _You are no longer traceable to anyone outside of the Morphing Grid. I have sent messages to Rangers Taylor and Eric._ ”

“Thanks, buddy bot.”

The connection closed. Ariel tucked herself lower to her bike and sped up.

* * *

 _And I'll take you for who you are_ _  
__If you take me for everything_  
 _Do it all over again  
It's all the same_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hours slide, and days go by  
_ _Till you decide to come  
_ _And in between it always seems too long  
_ _All of a sudden_

* * *

Ariel breathed a sigh of relief as the last building gave way to the forest that surrounded Harwood County. The lack of people settled the incessant need to Protect. Now, she could focus on Defend and Destroy. The fact she still felt that urge wasn’t good. Her tails were gone.

Then a masked man stepped out of the trees and onto the empty highway.

~

Coulson frowned as the cell phone signal he was tracking vanished. He tested a few connections before tapping at his comm. “Commander Hill, we have a problem.”

“ _I really don’t like it when you of all people have a problem, Coulson._ ”

“I’ve lost the primary signal.” He knew better than to name it. “It was traveling at speed on the highway out of the city. The secondary signal is still active and moving.”

“ _Follow it. I don’t want to learn what will happen if the Red Room gets their hands on that person._ ”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Coulson didn’t want to learn how Natasha would react, either. Bad enough the Red Room decided to attack at all. But to target her soulmates and fellow Shield agents? Well, he had seen her at her worst and her best. The results of the Red Room getting ahold of Ariel Malaya would result in a mix of the two.

That was an explosion Coulson never wanted to witness.

  
~

Ariel stared up at the bright blue sky in a daze for just a moment. She may be in top shape, but it was never easy to bail from a bike about to explode and then roll for a few dozen feet even if she did everything right. Thank the stars for helmets. She needed a moment to reorient herself, take a breath, and mourn the loss of her loyal motorcycle.

The moment was cut short when a gun was pointed at her face.

Ariel lashed out, kicking the gunman’s legs out from under him. There were a half dozen more of them, including the masked man in tactical gear. Enemies of her soulmates were not pulling any punches. Three had shock sticks they were likely expecting to take her down. One other had a handgun out, and two were at a distance with rifles. The masked man was circling, a knife flipping between his hands.

Block, punch, kick, grab, and twist. Dodge, kneecap, duck and kick hard enough to knock her target into a buddy. Roll the fuck away from the man with the knife-

Groan at the sound of a helicopter landing.

Steal a shock stick and spear it at a rifleman. Get away from the rather persistent shanker again- 

Drop at the sight of light reflecting off something in the trees. Feel something stab into her arm. Yank it out.

Note a bunch of government agents in tactical gear and no alphabet soup patches swarming the scene. The man with the knife ran for the trees. Ariel got to her feet and decided she didn’t want to answer questions. She was off the highway, the trees were five feet away-

A nondescript man in a suit smiled blandly at her. “Commander Hill and Agent Romanoff would like a word.”

Ariel felt woozy and didn’t like it. “I can’t trust you.”

He held out a cell phone. A call was active. It was on speaker.

“ _Get your ass in the copter, or so help me_.” Maria sounded PISSED.

Alpha scanned the phone without prompting and gave her a positive reading. Ariel tugged off her helmet and sighed. “Okay.”

“ _Thank you. Coulson, contain the agents and get back to base. Do not linger with the Winter Soldier in the area_.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The call ended. He motioned to the road. “After you.”

Ariel turned around and fought the urge to pass out. Whatever was in that dart was strong. When her feet hit the asphalt, the world tilted and went dark.

~

  
_And I have the skill, yeah, I have the will_   
_To breathe you in while I can_   
_However long you stay_   
_Is all that I am_

~

Maria barely glanced at the door as Coulson brought Ariel into the conference room. Ariel was groggy, but she had apparently recovered during the ten-minute flight back. Maria pointed to a chair in the corner and tapped her comm. “ETA, Romanoff.”

“ _Nine minutes_.”

Coulson dropped Ariel in the chair and joined her at the table. “The team sustained no injuries during retrieval. We lost the secondary signal.”

“Her injuries?”

“A few bruises from an exploding motorcycle-“

“I bailed before the bike exploded,” Ariel slurred.

Maria pointed at her but did not look over. “Not a word until this room is empty of all witnesses.”

Coulson continued on as if there had been no interruption or threat of violence. “Medical isn’t worried. The tranquilizer was a common one, nothing dangerous or overly strong.”

Maria nodded once. “Team Three, provide backup to Agent Coulson’s team. Four and Five, go to the coordinates Coulson gives you and scrub the site clean. I want a whole team doing nothing but keeping an eye out for trouble.”

The three groups followed Coulson out of the room. Maria set aside the rant she wanted to go on and finished doing her job. Natasha arrived and leaned against the wall next to Ariel. It was half an hour later when the room was empty but for the three of them.

Natasha wheeled the chair Ariel sat in over to Maria before taking a seat on the table. Maria leaned on the edge next to her and crossed her arms, studying her rather steady looking soulmate. There were scuffs and dirt all over her jeans and leather jacket; her hair was tucked under a green bandanna, but sweaty strands stuck to her neck, and something smelled burned.

“Do you have any idea how suspicious it looks that you fled the city after a series of terrorist attacks? The only reason you were brought up here and not sent to the brig is that they tried to kill you, too. But the fact that you lied to us makes you suspect of at least knowing this was going to happen. My position as Assistant Director can’t protect you from the interrogation that needs to now happen.”

Ariel at least looked contrite about all of this. “It didn’t occur to me that this was due to your work.”

“You’ve been attacked before?” Natasha asked, straightening from her slouch.

“A lot of Power Ranger enemies like to take out civilian support.” She shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time they sent people against us.”

“And your first reaction is to disappear?” Maria demanded.

“My first reaction is to lead trouble out of the city to avoid more property damage and bystanders getting caught in the crossfire.”

There was something Maria was missing, some crucial piece to the puzzle that was her new soulmate. Maybe it had to do with Ariel walking away from the Red Room’s boogieman relatively intact. Perhaps it was the tranquilizer instead of a bullet. She wasn’t sure.

Her tablet beeped, and she moved to Natasha’s other side, keeping the assassin between Ariel and the screen. The video was from the helicopter as it came in for a landing where Ariel had been found. The burning wreckage of the motorcycle made Maria’s stomach twist just a hint. Watching the Winter Soldier circle, the fight like a shark waiting to strike made her chest tighten.

Seeing Ariel kick the collective asses of six Red Room agents was both impressive and suspicious. Ariel couldn’t take down Natasha in a sparring match. Suddenly she was expert enough to handle a bunch of elite assassins? After trading a look with Natasha, Maria decided on a course of action.

Maria swiped the video away. “Seeing as how it’s not safe for any of us to be out there, you’re staying here until the situation is resolved. I can get away with not locking you up, but I can’t have you wandering freely. You’ll be confined to the guest area.”

Natasha slid off the table and tugged Ariel up and led her out of the room. Maria ordered a more thorough threat assessment background check. Obviously, the standard check had missed something. Closing her eyes, Maria took a moment to gather herself. Ariel wasn’t what she seemed. Somehow, that wasn’t surprising. Maria’s life didn’t know what “simple” was.

Boxing away emotions and thoughts concerning her soulmates, Maria picked up her tablet and tapped her comm, demanding updates from everyone as she headed for the communications hub. She had a job to do, and it was all that mattered at the moment.

* * *

_I don't mind_   
_I don't care  
As long as you're here_


	4. Chapter 4

_Go ahead, tell me you'll leave again  
_ _You'll just come back running  
_ _Holding your scarred heart in hand  
_ _It's all the same_

* * *

Ariel sat on the corner of the small bed and breathed. The day had started out so well, too. Now she was under a type of house arrest because her soulmates were legitimately paranoid. She realized her actions were suspicious as fuck. She had run on instinct, hadn’t considered any attack could possibly be the actions of regular people.

But anyone working for the Warstar Empire wouldn’t run from a fight at the arrival of more people, even if those people were heavily armed.

Pushing herself up, Ariel emptied what was left in her pockets on the bedside table. Her phone was confiscated, as was her pocket knife and lighter. She dropped her jacket on the foot of the bed and grimaced as her hurts started to make themselves known. Adrenaline drops were the worst. 

Her stomach growled. As pleasant as a hot shower sounded, she needed to refuel so she didn’t pass out in said shower. Opening the door to the hall revealed a man against the opposite wall. He had a knife in one hand and a wooden arrowhead in the other. His clothes were a little more casual than the other agents she had seen; cargo pants, plain black tee, and softshell jacket with a bird-like symbol on one shoulder. He didn’t look up at her when he asked, “Where to?”

“Food?”

He tilted his head to the left. “After you.”

Ariel closed the door and headed down the hall. Fuel, clean up, rest. She could figure out her next step later.

~

  
Natasha wrapped Maria in a hug once they were secure in their quarters for the night. Maria rested her weight against Natasha for a moment before returning the embrace.

“Are you sure you don’t want to see her before we settle in?”

Maria nodded against Natasha’s shoulder. “I can’t risk getting tangled in what I want to be true and reality. I start talking to her outside of official circumstances right now, and I might miss something vital.”

“You wouldn’t, but I understand.” She pulled away and led Maria towards the bathroom. “Clint said she was feeling the fight when she emerged for food. But she wasn’t nervous, wary, or sacred. Just exhausted.”

“He see anything else?” Maria had learned long ago Clint’s vision wasn’t just good for aiming.

Natasha started the water in the shower before grabbing clothes for them both. “She was withdrawn. Kept her head down. Said she was nothing like I described.”

“Talking about our soulmate to your bestie?”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “You told Coulson.”

“Coulson is not my best friend.”

“He’s your favorite.”

“No, he really isn’t. He encourages your and Barton’s assholery.”

“Our assholerly made us Avengers.”

“Your assholerly gives me ulcers.”

Maria closed her eyes when Natasha ran her fingers through Maria’s hair, undoing her hair tie and the now loose bun at the back of her head. “If she’s our soulmate,” Natasha said, “she’s going to be our equal.”

“But in what capacity?”

“I tried to kill you when we met, so that’s a precedent.”

“But you didn’t trick me into thinking you were safe to be around before the attempted murder.”

Natasha kissed her softly. “Shower. Sleep. We’ll think more clearly in the morning.”

Maria didn’t want to argue. So she didn’t.

* * *

Natasha raised an eyebrow at her teammate. “I do believe I speak for everyone when I ask why the hell are you here, Stark?” It was far too early in the morning for his shenanigans.

“Why is it you only use my first name when there’s food and alcohol between us?” 

“Because knives and forks are also between us and lulling you into a false sense of security is a pastime of mine.”

“As if you can’t kill me with your bare hands.” He smiled at Maria. “Assistant Director. Pepper wants to know when you’re back in New York. Something about combining your powers to take over the world, I don’t know, I wasn’t listening.”

Maria didn’t even look at him as she took a tablet from an agent and started looking at the highlights. “Stark, I have a ghost trying to kill my people. Since you’re not supposed to know about this office, I almost let the rookies operating the anti-aircraft gun knock you out of the sky. Answer Romanoff’s question.”

He shrugged. “Your masked assassin isn’t the only boogieman in this monster-infested city.”

Natasha shifted. 

Tony had enough of a survival instinct to hold out his hands slowly. “Easy, easy, my murderous friend. You’re the one who asked me to look.”

Natasha ignored the glance Maria sent her way. Of course she was going to ask the man capable of hacking Shield. Why the hell wouldn’t she? Maria should know this. “We’re not friends.”

“Of course not. I just like watching your jaw tick when I call you that. Biggest reaction I can get outta you when it comes to names that aren’t yours. ANYWAY.” He held out a memory stick. “The results of your favorite AI’s work.”

Natasha snagged Maria’s tablet off the console and dropped the small device on it. “Then why are you here? We both know he’s still in the system.”

“If I don’t hear you or arrowhead threaten to disembowel me at least once a month, I start to have withdrawals.”

Natasha shook her head. Still, it was a bit of a relief to have him around. As chaotic as Tony was, he was good in a fight and couldn’t subtly be turned against her. If the Red Room got their hands on Tony Stark, everyone would know.

Or, at the very least, Jarvis would, and that was enough.

Natasha looked over the summary of what had been found and could feel her eyebrows pulling together. She smoothed her features and highlighted the most essential parts for Maria. The Shield background had come back with no hostile connections; the algorithm didn’t take into account influential connections.

Ariel knew Olympic athletes and hadn’t said a word; when she spoke of friends in the government, she said nothing of them being in charge of entire bases (that one was understandable), and she was coordinating support efforts with the leaders of the Silver Guardians. And it wasn’t the leaders within the city’s unit, it was the top brass.

Ariel wasn’t a threat to Natasha and Maria or Shield.

She was a threat to the Red Room.

“Stark.”

“Agent Romanoff.”

“What do you mean you can’t get into her electronics?”

“I mean I can get the basics anyone with end-user access can get; contacts, apps, photos. But her devices are using way more storage and power, and when I go looking for what’s consuming all of it? Let’s just say I thought J was the only real AI on Earth.”

Now Maria looked over. She took the tablet from Natasha and skimmed it. “Stark, get your programs out of her shit. Now.”

“You heard the lady, J,” Tony said to seemingly no one. “Gonna share with the class?”

Maria tapped on her comm. “Vasquez, cease and desist. Delete everything you’ve found; data, printouts, all of it.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. Shield kept all information, no matter how seemingly insignificant.

“Coulson, get up here. Barton, move her to meeting room two.” She motioned to Natasha and Tony to follow her as she left the room. “No one interrupt us unless Coulson’s dead again.”

Once in her office just off of the command hub, Maria locked down the room. She hit two buttons on her desk phone. It rang twice.

“ _If you want Stark gone, sic Coulson on him, Hill_.”

Tony feigned offense at Fury’s words.

“Sir, we may have broken Angel Grove protocol.”

“ _Oh, I know you did_.”

Maria sighed. “I’d apologize, sir, but the background didn’t come back with Silver Guardian connections.”

“ _Yeah, it never does. Funny, that._ ” He hung up.

“Angel Grove protocol?” Tony asked, not really expecting an answer. There were some things he knew he would have to work/hack for.

“There are certain individuals that Shield does not interfere with, investigate, or otherwise hinder. They’re always in Power Ranger protected cities, and they always handle things in a way that leaves things better than they were.”

Natasha tilted her head. “They’re the reason Shield observes, but never interacts?”

Maria nodded. “They have a handle on it and, honestly, that means fewer resources Shield has to devote to these cities.” She sighed. “The subject of our investigation is not on that list, but she associates with far too many of them.”  
  
Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to question her again?”

“At this point, I don’t know if it would do us any good.” She sighed. “We can at least talk to her.”

It would be better than nothing.

~

  
Ariel lifted her head from her arms when the door opened. Her soulmates walked in, and Tony Fucking Stark hung out in the doorway. Her watcher narrowed his eyes.

“The hell are you here for, Stark?”

“Someone starts shooting at people who don’t take my BS, I get curious.”

He smirked. “I didn’t know you cared, Starky.”

“Barton, out,” Maria ordered.

“Outting.” He pushed away from the table and followed Tony Stark out into the hall.

Maria and Natasha sat across from her. They considered each other for a long moment.

Ariel looked them in the eye and decided she had at least one more course of action she could take. “Look, we haven’t known each other a week. You can’t talk about your work, and I get that. But has it occurred to you that maybe I didn’t want to worry my soulmates by telling them how dangerous my job can get?”

"We can.” Natasha’s voice was as dry as the desert Ariel spent far too much time as a teenager. “And that's exactly the problem.”

"We looked you up," said Maria. "And do you know what we found?"

Ariel shrugged. "Fat lot of nothing?"

They narrowed their eyes. 

"Yeah. We had our best looking into you, and they found nothing to indicate you're anything but a regular civilian. But then the world’s best computer programmer took a look. He went a lot deeper than we did... and then he hit a wall. He bugged all your devices, and they were wiped within the hour. Then he hacked your computer and kept finding stuff that was just a bit too sanitized, and hitting walls he couldn't break or overcome or- did you just wince?"

Ariel dropped her head back onto her arms for a moment. When she looked up, she could read the confusion in their faces. “Anyone who digs too deeply is usually doing us harm.”

“And what is the typical reaction?” Natasha asked.

“You ever see the movie Men In Black?”

The comms in their ears obviously told them something. They were giving her new looks of concern and suspicion.

Ariel rolled her eyes. "Say what you want about my friends, but they all are, from their dressing choices to their sense of timing, absolute drama queens."

* * *

 _And I'll take you for who you are  
_ _If you take me for everything_  
 _Do it all over again_  
 _It's always the same_


	5. Chapter 5

_Wrong or right  
_ _Black or white  
_ _If I close my eyes  
_ _It's all the same_

* * *

Maria walked into her office and raised an eyebrow. “Sir?”

“Your soulmate is causing problems that are making my eye twitch.” On the downside, Fury was here. On the upside, he wasn’t stressed.

“You should get that looked at,” Natasha suggested.

“Some days, Romanoff, I regret not shooting you.”

She grinned, just a hint. “But most days, you don’t.”

“This is not one of those days.” There was no warning or threat in his voice, so Maria knew her soulmate was relatively safe.

The woman in the Air Force uniform standing off to the side was amused, seeming unbothered by the banter. “Lieutenant Colonel Taylor Earhardt.” She held out her hand and sounded as if she weren’t here to shoot them all.

Maria introduced herself and Natasha before they all took seats.

“Did I hear correctly that Ariel Malaya is your soulmate?” It wasn’t the first question Maria was expecting.

“Depends on who’s asking,” Maria replied.

“The person who can make her disappear if I decide she’s in danger.” There was something wild in Eardhart’s eyes.

“We are her soulmates,” Natasha said, seemingly utterly relaxed with the situation. Maria knew that in reality, she was poised to strike.

“In that case,” Earhardt said as she pulled out a folder from her briefcase, “may Ariel join us?”

Maria traded a look with Natasha. “Barton, bring her to my office.”

It was only a few seconds later before they could hear Stark and Barton debating something at volume. The door opened, and Ariel stepped in before it was closed again.

“Ariel.”

She gulped. “Taylor.”

“Why am I hearing about government soulmates like this?”

“Things have been moving a little hectically!” She had gone from zero to defensive in point six seconds. "I told Kim and Will!”

“The ex that will never betray you and the Vault of all our secrets? I know you’re from Angel Grove, _but I need to know these things_.”

“Sorry? I’ll feed you?”

“You better.” Taylor opened the folder and took out three stacks of papers. “Fill these out, and you can fill them in.”

Ariel narrowed her eyes. “You knew.”

Earhardt rolled her eyes. “You’ve managed to escape every other government organization that’s tried to question you. If you stuck around, then there are only so many reasons.”

Ariel scratched the back of her head. “Actually…”

“Ariel…” The tone was a warning of imminent violence.

“You know I’m older than you, right? You’re supposed to respect your elders?”

“You’re older than me by a year. Why have you decided being in here is safer than out there?”

“This time, it’s not my fault.”

Taylor shook her head. “You’re a sixth, Malaya. It’s always your fault.”

Natasha nodded. “This particular group has left us alone for years. You show up in our lives, and suddenly they send their best assassin to kill us all.”

“I don’t think they were trying to kill me,” Ariel muttered. “Anyway. Closer to danger, further from harm. And soulmates. Figured I could hang out and make sure things didn’t go too badly.”

“How did you plan on doing that from a secured room with a guard?” Maria asked.

“Back up,” Earhardt ordered. She looked at Natasha. “You said you’ve been left alone until Ariel showed up in your lives?”

Natasha nodded once. “They’ve made two attempts at convincing me to reconsider working for them. It’s been years since the last one.”

Maria watched Ariel go from ‘kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar’ to ‘agent realizing shit has hit the fan’. The change was sudden and dramatic. Ariel had the same wild look in her eyes as Earhardt. Fury was now sitting up and, damn it, that meant this was about to get worse.

“Would this group be able to put together as many pieces as you have?” Ariel asked as she took a cell phone from her friend.

“Yes,” Natasha groused. 

Ariel tapped at the phone twice and held the mic to her mouth. “Code Psycho. Go to ground." The orders sounded serious, but Ariel didn't seem too concerned. "This is not a drill. Gather up, ninja vanish, trust no message outside the Grid. Do it fast. Do it now.” She handed back the phone and stuck a hand in her pocket. The golden coin she pulled out had seen better days. She flipped it into the air, snatched it, and slammed it on the back of her other hand. She showed the result of the flip to Earhardt.

“Fuck.” Watching a Lt. Colonel wince and flinch away from a coin was amusing and made Maria wonder what the fuck was going on.

Ariel looked at Maria. “You’ve seen the most recent Godzilla movie, right?”

Before anyone could reply, an explosion shook the very foundations of everything Maria knew.

~

Natasha stepped into the command hub just as the windows were blasted in. Red Room soldiers rappelled in with guns blazing. Natasha shoved Maria down behind a console and grabbed Ariel down as well.

Ariel slammed her coin into the floor, resulting in a glowing green circle in the tiles. Taylor did the same with something that caused a smaller yellow circle to glow in front of her. Some kind of hollow sound echoed in Natasha’s bones. She didn’t have time to question what they had done.

Clint slid out of the hall and hit the console next to Fury. He tossed Natasha the bits of her gear he had found hidden in the vents just outside of the hub. Two extra clips of ammo went to Fury and Maria. He pulled an older bow off his shoulder and nocked it.

“I’ll pick them off from out here,” Tony reported, obviously already in his armor.

Natasha glanced over the console to see the Winter Soldier. “He’s here.”

“We need to keep a way out of this room clear,” Fury said.

Ariel shifted beside her. “They’re here for me? We’re pretty sure about that?”

Natasha shrugged. “They tranquilized you for a reason.”

“Bad reasons. Painful reasons. Unsexy reasons. Taylor.” Ariel pointed to Maria. “You keep her alive.”

The woman with a supposedly higher rank nodded, not questioning the order. 

Ariel nudged Natasha. “Wanna test a theory?”

“Sure.” Natasha had a feeling she couldn’t stop Ariel at this point. But being there to watch for the fallout, that she could do.

“If they don’t want me dead, they won’t shoot you for sticking close. We get to big, tall, and scary. We kick his ass. Good plan?”

“Horrible plan. On three. One. Two. Three!”

Ariel shot out from behind the console, and Natasha was on her heels. Bullets followed them for only a second. Okay, they really, really didn’t want Ariel dead. They didn’t even want her vaguely injured. Ariel continued to head for the more open area in front of the shattered windows even as the Winter Soldier pulled out a different gun.

Natasha grabbed Ariel just as a tranquilizer dart passed in front of her. Ariel started to weave between desks and chairs, ducking at random. Just before they reached their destination, Ariel yanked a keyboard and tablet off a desk. She chucked one then the other in quick succession at the Winter Soldier. While he was blocking the attacks, Ariel hopped on a hastily abandoned desk chair and closed the space between them faster than he was expecting.

Watching the Winter Soldier getting tackled by a rolling chair was NOT something Natasha was expecting to see at any point in time.

“ _We’ve gotten half the agents out_ ,” Maria reported over the comms. 

Natasha pulled out a knife from her boot. She smacked a taser disc onto the Winter Soldier’s mechanical arm while he was distracted with Ariel. With one limb out of commission, Natasha moved in to hamstring him. She wasn’t surprised by the lightweight armor in his uniform pants or by the donkey kick she had to roll over the shattered glass to avoid.

Natasha had only sparred with Ariel a handful of times in the past week. It shouldn’t have been enough to make it easy to fight alongside each other. Perhaps it was due to their status as soulmates. Still, Natasha was finding it almost second nature to work with and around Ariel’s blunt-force-trauma fighting style. 

It was another thing she didn’t know if she could trust.

And then the Winter Soldier regained use of his metal arm.

~

  
Ariel was having a bad day. Bad enough her soulmates were being attacked, it was because of her that they could be killed. Not that she was going to let that happen. But this was precisely why she shouldn’t have tried to build any kind of relationship with her soulmates. Of course, now it was too late even attempt at pulling away or running. 

Unless, of course, they wanted nothing to do with her after this. It seemed their lives were complicated enough without Ariel’s world of Ranger Danger.

For now, however, there was the bionic man to deal with. Who she and Natasha were dealing with quite well, thank you very much. They were kicking his ass.

Mostly. Sorta. Ish.

Okay, so they had managed to get all of his weapons off of him.

“Why isn’t he staying the fuck down?” Ariel asked after she had kicked him over a desk.

Natasha shrugged. “He’s a kind of super-soldier.”

Ariel looked at her. “Are you shitting me right now?”

“Not at this very moment, no.”

Ariel backed up a step as the man got up, Natasha staying at her side. “Next plan. Go get the tranq gun.”

“That was meant for you; he won’t be affected.”

“Not with that alone. Get the gun. Get off the floor.” Ariel charged, and Natasha sprinted away from her. 

Ariel grabbed a water bottle off a desk and dodged a punch to the head as she twisted open the cap. Being splashed in the face wasn’t something the man was expecting, but he didn’t falter for more than a blink of a moment. Ariel kept aware of Natasha’s progress as she spilled coffee, water, and energy drinks on and around the asshole trying to kill her soulmates.

The gunshots in the area between her and Taylor were growing less and less frequent.

Natasha popped up on a desk and aimed. Ariel kicked over a desktop tower and yanked apart a surge protector from its cord. The smell of ozone hit her nose as she dropped the livewire into the puddle of liquid.

The gunshots stopped.

The tranquilizer dart found its mark.

And the soldier convulsed as he was electrocuted.

* * *

_In my life_  
_The compromise_  
_I close my eyes_  
_It's all the same_


	6. Chapter 6

_Go ahead, say it - you're leaving  
_ _You'll just come back running  
_ _Holding your scarred heart in hand  
_ _It's all the same_

* * *

Clint looked around the small guest room they had all taken refuge in after making sure everything was running smoothly after the attack. “So what do you get when you mix three Avengers, three of Shield’s highest commanders, and two…”

“Two people who can’t be hacked,” Stark muttered from where he was tapping on his phone.

Maria Hill was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. “Power Rangers, if I had to guess.” By Ariel’s grin, she wasn’t wrong.

Natasha considered the answer. “Glowing objects in the floor, military personnel escorted by the Director himself, and living in Power Ranger protected cities.” She shrugged. “I can believe it.”

“Yeah, what was that?” Clint asked.

Ariel tossed her golden coin on the table even as Eardhart muttered about her paperwork. “This is a power coin. Didja notice how there are no dead people?”

Eyes went to Coulson, who glanced at his tablet. “We have a few serious injuries on both sides, but nothing life-threatening or requiring long term physical therapy.”

Fury put down the tablet he was using to keep an eye on things. “Are you saying you can affect if people live or die?” Except, he was directing the question to Earhardt.

The Lieutenant Colonel shook her head. “No. Absolutely not.” She frowned. “Not with just a talisman of our powers, anyway.” She looked at Ariel. “This is your area, I deal with laws and intimidation.” Her eyes narrowed. “At least, I do when I have all the information.”

Ariel’s serene smile was an amazing lie. “Learning experiences are NOT the worst thing I could’ve thrown at you.”

“I had a grenade thrown at me!”

“It missed.” Ariel focused on Fury. “Long story short: planets with life more complex than microbes are due to a Zeo Crystal.” She sounded almost as if this was not the first time she had explained this. “Power Rangers use energy from the Crystal to protect their planets. My coin and Taylor’s marble upped the survival instinct of those allied with me. However, a Crystal channeled to protect doesn’t differentiate between this group and that group if the opposing group isn’t a threat to the Crystal. Everyone involved today has an already increased survival rate. Add the Crystal to the mix, and no one’s gonna die.”

Natasha frowned, trading a glance with Clint. “I was wondering.”

He nodded. “Yeah, me too.” 

Maria caught on, as did Stark, Coulson, and Fury: Clint only ever missed when he was being influenced from the outside. He would have taken every kill shot available to him. Neither Maria herself nor Fury were bad aims, either.

“Are we going to ignore the fact they just outed themselves as actual Power Rangers?” Stark asked.

Ariel smirked at Taylor. “Imma introduce him to the brains of the operation.”

“Ariel, _**NO**_.”

“Ariel, yes.” She turned far too mischievous eyes on Stark. “Wanna learn a new kind of quantum mechanic?”

His grin was manic. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”

Earhardt sighed. “The way you originals do one eighties with your secret identities is dizzying.” She looked around the room. “Yes, we’re Power Rangers. No, we don’t have real, usable powers. Yes, we have a vague kind of access to advanced technology. No, we can’t hand it out even to people we trust not to abuse it. But we can share ideas, and we can help extrapolate on currently known information to lead to further advancements.” She shrugged. “There just has to be a logical, step by step process. And, preferably, a paper trail.” She grimaced. “I can’t believe I just said that.”

Fury was smirking. “With great rank comes great paperwork.”

Taylor glared. “You’re lucky you're Carol’s favorite.”

“I wouldn’t call that “luck,” he muttered. 

Clint raised his hand. “Quick question: What are we going to do with the very deadly assassin brainwashed to kill us all in our basement, and how do we make sure this doesn’t become a new and terrifying common thing in our lives? Because I’m paranoid as it is, I don’t need proof that it’s not paranoia because they really are out to get me.”

“It’s not you they want, Barton,” Maria said, rolling her eyes.

He motioned to himself. “Everyone wants this.”

“Yeah, to stab multiple times.” 

Coulson sighed. “But it is a valid question.” 

Maria watched the silent conversation happen between the two Rangers via their eyebrow movements and head tilts. 

“Do they have a name and a common way of operating?” Ariel asked, slipping her phone from her pocket.

“The Red Room,” Natasha answered, keeping all emotion from her voice. “Department X. Based in Russia. They train, brainwash, and program assassins from a very young age.”

Ariel went stone still, her eyes hardening. Taylor picked up the worn gold coin on the table and turned the tri-point crest over to reveal what looked like fangs, stripes, and narrow cat-like eyes. Ariel’s eyes flicked to the coin, to Taylor, and then around the room. She took a deep breath and set her phone on the table.

“Alpha, start a conference call.” Her attitude change was jolting. Ariel was no longer relaxed. Instead, she had straightened and spoke with an authority Maria didn’t think possible from her usually casual soulmate. “Ask the mentors if they’re willing to help with deep brainwashing. If anyone doesn’t want to hunt humans, ask if they’re willing to help the active team.”

“That this is happening when the Legacy of Power is being called upon is no coincidence,” Taylor murmured. 

Ariel nodded once. “Everything is connected, and parallel lines always meet.”

One by one, six-inch square screens were projected above Ariel’s phone. The various individuals and groups didn’t seem at all bothered or annoyed by Ariel’s call to arms. In fact, they were looking at Ariel the same way Maria herself and Fury were considered: respected leaders who knew what the fuck they were talking about and were going to get them through this bullshit relatively intact.

“Someone’s put together all the pieces and has identified most if not all of us,” Ariel said, wasting no time. “The current team is depending on the Legacy of Power. Earth cannot afford to have any of us weak, dead, or under someone else’s control. So we’re going to do everything in our power to bring down a human enemy in order for the Harwood team to destroy the Warstar Empire.” Her eyes flicked up to the Shield agents, and she grinned just a little. “And if the determined looks around me are any hint, the Avengers are in on the hunt, too.”

Maria was expecting the cheers of excitement. What she didn’t expect were the words that came from a man in a red tee.

“ _Let’s show the new kids how it’s done_.”

* * *

Natasha pushed to door open to the roof of Ariel’s apartment building and couldn’t help the small smile at the setup. A couple of cushioned lounge chairs were shoved together under a thick blanket and a handful of throw pillows. A low table had a deeply colored quilt draped over it. There were a handful of short torches ringing around the area. The sun had just started to set after the long day of planning, organizing, and revelations.

Although, honestly, Natasha wasn’t surprised Fury was a cat person.

The current Red Ranger, in full armor, stood as Natasha and Maria approached. Ariel stood as well, squeezing his shoulders and giving him a confident smile.

“You got this, Troy,” Ariel said, sounding ridiculously self-assured. “Trust me, you’d know if we had opinions, we’re all kind of assholes.”

“Yeah, saw that during the conference call.” He sounded a bit too young, but Natasha had noticed that trend and decided she could process it after the Red Room was dismantled. “Still. It’s a lot.”

“Don’t think of the legacy on your shoulders; see it as all of us at your back. We’ve got you, and you got this. Okay?”

He nodded once. “Thank you, Ariel.”

“Anytime.”

He glanced at Natasha and Maria. “Except right now.”

Ariel shrugged, grinning. “Third rule of fight club: learn how to relax when you have the chance. Go hang out with your team, eat a stupid amount of pizza, and see if you can’t break Tensou’s logic processors with awful puns.”

“Will do. Stay safe, Ariel.”

“Take care, Troy.”

He vanished in a haze of red light. Ariel immediately turned her attention to her soulmates and greeted them with hugs. She was running warmer than Natasha remembered and seemed a little more solid. Maybe it had to do with the state of things, or possibly Ariel could be more of herself now that the truth was out.

Natasha still wasn’t sure which version of Ariel was the “real” one. She wondered if, maybe, the two of them were far more similar than she first believed.

When the food was laid out on the table, they made plates of food and leaned back to watch the sky darken and the stars come out. Ariel promised they would be safe from attack, or at least have a lot of advanced warning. Natasha wouldn’t be able to shed her vigilance completely. Still, she could convey enough relaxation to ease the stress between Maria’s shoulders. 

Ariel looked at them and sighed. “So, now that almost everything is out in the open, I guess I should ask again if you want to give this soulmate thing a shot.” The confident as hell Ranger was gone, replaced by a young woman who was braced for losing something before she really had it.

“It’s not a question,” Maria said without hesitation. “You’re stuck with us.”

Natasha nodded. “Now that I know you can actually fight, we’re sparring first thing tomorrow morning.” She looked at Ariel. “Knowing what you do now, are you still willing to go through with this?”

Ariel smiled sadly. “I’ve gone a very long time thinking I wouldn’t have much at all to do with my soulmates. Even going into this a week ago, I settled with keeping in touch, maybe seeing each other every few weeks if schedules allowed. I figured I wouldn’t get to really bond with either with you.”

Maria laced her fingers with Ariel’s. “And now?”

“Be patient with me? I want to do this. I want...I want anything and everything I can get. I just...I’ve never thought about it how I would go about building any kind of relationship with not a Ranger.”

“Well, I always thought my soulmates wouldn’t live through meeting me,” Natasha said, “so I understand where you’re coming from.” She shrugged. “In a twisted way.”

Maria nodded. “I didn’t have the best example of what soulmates could be until I was so committed to my job I figured it no longer mattered. But if we keep lines of communication open, we’ll figure this out.” 

Ariel’s smile shifted into a bright, hopeful one. “Communicate, that I can do.” She settled against Natasha so utterly and entirely that Natasha was convinced Ariel had no intention of moving for the rest of the night. 

Which...wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. 

“So,” Maria said, “in the spirit of communication: how worried do I have to be about Stark teaming up with your scientists?”

Ariel scoffed. “It’s not him you have to worry about. Enough AIs are keeping an eye on them to keep explosions to a minimum.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Then who do we have to worry about?”

“You know how there are all those internet quizzes to figure out which Power Ranger you are? And you ever see how often everyone insists Cap America is a fearless Red Ranger leader?” Ariel rolled her eyes. “Fucking wrong.” 

As Ariel went off on a tangent about Steve actually being a pushy, crazy stunt pulling Yellow Ranger, Natasha realized she was looking forward to seeing what would come of bonding with her new soulmate. A week ago, she hadn’t given a second thought to keeping Ariel at arm’s length to protect Ariel’s life and Natasha’s own heart. But as risky as it was to get close to a not quite retired actual fucking Power Ranger? Ariel had seen just exactly what kind of skeletons were in Natasha’s closet and decided to not only stick around but make sure those skeletons were buried correctly.

Linking an ankle around one of Maria’s, Natasha knew her current path wasn’t going to be smooth, straight, or in any way easy. Given how far she’d come, however, Natasha was willing to see just far she could go with the two amazing women at her side. 

* * *

_And I'll take you for who you are  
_ _If you take me for everything_  
_Do it all over again  
It's all the same_


End file.
